A Money Hungry Theme in a Dolls House and the Glass Menagerie - Essay Example

?Play In Doll’s house the money is the central theme and it controls the character in many ways. In the story, Nora is forced to attempt forgery because of her want of money. This creates all sorts of problem in the play. In the whole play, money is the matter of discussion. In the play, life of Nora represents that of a money hungry woman who is a spendthrift that favors shopping excessively. She is a person obsessed with money and it very well controls her life. She looks at her husband as a means of procuring money and this shows how much influence money can have on people’s lives. Nora always demands money from her husband. Torvald loves Nora and treats her as a doll but cannot afford to give her want she wants. Here Mrs. Linde also married her husband because of money. So here money seems to have more value than love and affection and it totally controls the life of people. She needed large source of money and security so she married her husband. In the play, Nora is constantly thinking of money and ways of attaining it. The money is of highest power in her life. Also her husband is finding ways to earn money as it is a means to make his wife happy. In the play, all the characters are influenced by money. In her effort to attain more money, Nora gets loan without her husband’s knowledge. The following quote shows how much Nora’s husband is terrified by loan and debts. “ Nora, Nora! Just like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think about that sort of thing. No debts, no borrowing. There's something constrained, something ugly even, about a home that's founded on borrowing and debt.” (149) All the characters in the play are after money. Here , Krogstad also wants the repayment of loan back and he is also after money. Kristina also shows her fondness for money by explaining to Krogstad that she left him for money. Her actions are dictated by money and she is totally controlled by money. The attitude or behavior of all people in the play is controlled by money. The money as a power is creating many conflicts in the play. Here money is even giving gender roles as Torvald is accusing Nora of not understanding the value of money because she is a woman. Money is also reason why Nora is being dehumanized by her husband. We can see that from the following words “Look, Nora, in lots of things, you're still a child. I'm older than you in many ways and I've had a little more experience” (184)Torvald even uses money to buy love for Nora and try to be her second father. It is money which is bringing Nora in to trouble as her wants and desires force her to borrow money .The loan intimidates her and make her spends less in order to pay back loan. So we can analyze here that even if we have enough money it still can make us more attracted towards it. Here Nora is blindly attracted to money and it is the central force controlling her. Even her husband is to an extent entrapped by money as he wants to earn more money to make his wife happy. So both these people are trying to buy happiness with money and it is the power factor in their life. Money gave them happiness but in the end it also harming their life. Money has shown to have so much power in this play that it is overtaking feeling like love, affection and trust. The few women here married for the sake of money which shows the way in which money can control’s one’s feeling. The love for money is beyond everything and people are materialistic in this play. The money is also making Nora lie to her husband so one can understand what all things money can make a person do. If it can make a relationship work, it can also break it. In the play, money fuels the character’s emotions, their actions and how they behave with one another. The play also shows how money is controlled by men and for the same reason it gives them power. Nora also becomes a pawn at the hands of Krogstad due to her want of money. Money is shown to weaken Nora’s emotion and make her do anything to attain it. It is her foolish love for money which makes her indebted. Her love for money made her a bankrupt and here we can see how a rich family can become bankrupted because of money itself. We can see here that money can make a person act stupid like in case of Nora. Money is also making her live a life of lie because she cannot afford that kind of expenditure. In the play, all is after acquisition of money and their lives are working around money. In the play the only motivation for all characters is money. \ In the play “The Glass Menagerie” the family of Amanda is looking forward to earn money to carry on their family life. In this play there are lots of conflicts due to money. This play shows that money can ruin the peace and harmony in a family. It shows how important value money has in the life of people. There is constant struggle between mother and son due to the issue of work and money. In the play, Amanda is all set to earn money and she is trying different things for it. The following words express the agony of Amanda .As per Williams (2011,pg.32)"I know your ambitions do not lie in the warehouse, that like everybody in the whole wide world -- you've had to -- make sacrifices, but -- Tom -- Tom -- life's not easy, it calls for -- Spartan endurance”. Here we can see the desperation Amanda has for money and we can understand the power of money here. Amanda wants her daughter to marry a person who is rich. Here we can analyze that money is a motivator for marriage rather than love and relationship. Here, money is above human relationship and it rules the minds of people. This play shows that money can bring happiness and comfort in a family life. In the play, Amanda is a struggling mother who is in want of money to sustain her family. And as traditional concept, she thinks men should earn money for a family. Amanda is a woman who always dreams of past and talks about the possibilities she had in her younger age but feels despair as now she is poor. The play shows that money is what decides the status of a person and makes one proud. The play gives a message that memories of money are overpowering as Amanda still remembers her rich life in adulthood. In the play, Amanda wants security and she lacks it because she doesn’t have money. So we can understand how money gives comfort, security and happiness to people. Here Laura wants to escape from the real world as it is full of discomfort and agony and she fantasizes with her glass menagerie. The agony of her life is disability and poverty and we can see how money can make a person delusional and out of mind. Also in the play, Tom is a slave who has to hard work to earn money. Tom’s want for money has made him a money making machine and a struggler. The money has taken away the unity of the family and mother is pushing daughter to go for riches. She wants her children to have what she missed to have. Amanda feels that life is meaningless and the reason is absence of money. So it can be assumed that the money gives meaning to people’s life. In the play, Tom has to work in a dead end job and all he is doing is earn money to take care of his family. We can see that money make people do things which make them discomfort and unhappy. In a way, people are slaves of money. Amanda also had to abandon her idea of an earning man as she herself struggle to get a job. The money even changed the mindset of Amanda. So the power of money is quiet obvious in the play. In this play, all the characters are looking forward to earn money to make a living. Money is making these people desperate and restless. Money exceptionally controls the lives of people in the play. Because of lack of money, Amanda has even lost the desire to live. Amanda thinks that money can bring social status to people. This is the true conception of the society as money decides the social status of people. Amanda having lived in an affluent family misses money a lot in her present life. According to Lee ( 2013) “The Glass Menagerie is about family; about the things we expect from each other; the things we expect from ourselves. It’s a tragedy, it’s a comedy, and yes, it certainly is about hope”. Amanda and her daughter Laura is living in illusion as they have no money and wants to escape from reality. Even without money Amanda pretends as though she has money by wearing clothes from past. Amanda wanted her past as she was rich, had social status and happiness. Amanda is also not happy with her daughter as she is not trying to impress gentleman in order to marry them. Amanda even forces Tom to find a man for her daughter. All these things happen because of lack of money as Amanda is feeling anxious and insecure. So we can understand that money to a great extend control the lives of people and gives them happiness and security. In both the play money is a motivator and decides the course of action and behavior of the people. In doll’s house, despite of being wealthy Nora is greedy for money and her husband is finding her foolish. In “The Glass Menagerie’ the family of Amanda is poor and need money to survive. However, in both the play, the people are disturbed, discomfort, unhappy and frustrated. We can find that if money is present or absent it can bring problems to people. Money is a powerful thing in the world as it can give power and comfort to people. In doll’s house Nora takes trouble due to money. As per Wiseman (2010) “The conflict of the story is driven by Nora’s forging of loan documents to raise money for an expensive trip to Italy; Krogstad, who had processed the loan, tries to blackmail Nora over the fact that she forged the documents” In both the plays, Nora and Amanda are in an illusionary world as they are controlled by money motives. The play suggests that money can change the personality of people and make them end up in a situation which is unrealistic. In both the plays, they are using men for their money needs. Money is an issue which even led women to marry people whom they have no love for. Money is big motivation for people and they can pretend love for the sake of money. So the plays “The doll house” and “The Glass Menagerie” shows money as a controller of lives of people to a great extent. References Ibsen, H, 1962. A Doll's House. 1st ed. U.S.A: Plain Label Books Lees. 2013. Review: The Glass Menagerie . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.voxy.co .nz/lifestyle/review-glass-menagerie/268/157140. [Accessed 24 December 13]. Williams, T, 1999. The Glass Menagerie. 1st ed. U.S.A: New Directions Publishing. Wiseman,M.C. 2010. Nora as a Doll in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House". [ONLINE] Available at: [Accessed 24 December 13]. Read More